Recent research, published in the European Heart Journal, finds that physical activity can decrease the risk of a heart attack in healthy people by half.

A team of researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Cardiac Exercise Research Group in Trondheim analyzed the cardiorespiratory fitness of more than 4,500 people who participated in the health survey HUNT3. Nobody had a history of cardiovascular disease, lung disease, or hypertension.

Bjarne Nes, the lead researcher of the study, comments: “Our study shows that poorer fitness is an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease, even among healthy women and men who are relatively fit.”

A new international study, executed by the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III in Madrid, Spain, and Tufts University, USA, finds a link between healthy sleep during night time and the risk of cardiovascular issues.

For the study, the scientists analyzed the medical data received from 3,974 people with average age 46 years from Spain. They participated in the Progression of Early Subclinical Atherosclerosis study.

Having analyzed the data, the scientists concluded that participants who slept under 6 hours every night had the 27% increased the risk for atherosclerosis when the researchers compared them with people who slept between 7 and 8 hours every night.

Researchers from the University of Louisville in Kentucky suggest that natural polyphenols found in pomegranate can fight symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Polyphenols are also present in berries such as strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

The
scientists found a metabolite named urolithin A (UroA) is produces as a result
of polyphenols in fruits and gut bacteria interacting. Using animal model, the
researchers demonstrated UroA and UAS03 increase proteins that tighten
epithelial cell junctions in the gut.

The first
study author Dr Rajbir Singh comments: “The general belief thus far in the
field is that urolithins [such as UroA and UAS03] exert beneficial effects
through their anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative properties. We have for
the first time discovered that their mode of function also includes repairing
the gut barrier dysfunction and maintaining barrier integrity.”

A recent study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, shows that microbiota, aka gut bacteria, play a crucial role in protecting humans against food allergies.

During the study, two groups of mice without their own bacteria received gut bacteria from either healthy human babies, or from human babies with cow’s allergy milk. The first group of mice didn’t experience any allergic reaction to cow’s milk, while the other had allergic reactions to cow’s milk.

Senior study author Cathryn R. Nagler, Ph.D., a professor in food allergy at the University of Chicago in Illinois, USA, says: “This study allows us to define a causal relationship and shows that the microbiota itself can dictate whether or not you get an allergic response.”

According to number of observational studies and clinical trials carried out over approximately forty years, higher intake of fiber and whole grains (25–29g or more daily) is associated with lower risk of developing non-communicable diseases.

Non-communicable (or chronic) diseases are the conditions of long duration and normally slow progression. They include four types of diseases: cardiovascular (heart attacks and stroke), cancer, chronic respiratory diseases (chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma), and diabetes.

Corresponding author Professor Jim Mann from the University of Otago, New Zealand, say: “Previous reviews and meta-analyses have usually examined a single indicator of carbohydrate quality and a limited number of diseases so it has not been possible to establish which foods to recommend for protecting against a range of conditions. Our findings provide convincing evidence for nutrition guidelines to focus on increasing dietary fibre and on replacing refined grains with whole grains. This reduces incidence risk and mortality from a broad range of important diseases.”